


believer

by dryadfiona



Series: brighter than the stars [1]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Ghost Chloe, Werewolf Kate, Witch Max, no mention of men, other characters as various monsters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-27 20:37:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12590076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dryadfiona/pseuds/dryadfiona
Summary: Max may be into all this supernatural stuff, but she's gotta be imagining just how supernatural Arcadia Bay is. There's no way Kate's actually a werewolf, and she's sure the spirit in her dorm room isn't someone she knows. It's just an overactive imagination and too much Halloween spirit. Probably.





	believer

**Author's Note:**

> here's to you, kate! sorry it was late but time management Is A Bitch. also the brief amberfield thing doesn't go anywhere i'm just gay for rachel amber

Max takes a deep breath, face near the mug of tea Kate handed her.

"Are you alright, Max?" Kate asks. She's sweet to worry, and she always does, but Max is fine.

She tries to say as much, but all that comes out is a squeak.

"I knew I should have waited to tell you," Kate says, brow furrowed.

"Yeah," Chloe says, floating above Kate. "We probably should have. I mean, on Halloween? What a cliche."

Max tries to remember how her life got to be...this.

\--

The beginning of October starts as expected. Everyone goes crazy for Halloween. The door decorating contest is in full swing, people are already carving pumpkins, and Victoria will brag about her costume to anyone willing to listen.

It's exciting for Max for a different reason, though. She loves Halloween, and October, in autumn in general, but this is the month she's finally worked herself up to trying new things.

Specifically, witchcraft.

There's something about Arcadia Bay. She always used to think everything had a scientific explanation, but anytime she goes out into the woods, she gets this...feeling. Of something more, or something old, or something...

Something..

So, what the hell, why not try witchcraft? Blackwell is almost stiflingly normal, and she'd like to get that feeling from the rest of the Bay here. It's...peaceful.

It's been a month since she's been here, over a week since she made the decision to try things, both of which were full of research. She doesn't really know what she's doing, but she's pretty sure she knows what she's doing enough to not get killed by spirits.

Assuming spirits are real. She thinks that's the only thing that is. It'd be absurd if there were real dragons, and werewolves, and vampires.

Science can explain  _most_ things, she thinks.

\--

"Hey, Max," Kate says.

Max has a jar and a rain coat and a lot of anxiety in her stomach, and she'd like to get outside and get this done soon, but she always has time for Kate.

"Hi, Kate!" Max says. "How are you?"

"Good," Kate says, though her face is a little pale. "Have you noticed anything weird lately?"

"Define weird?" Max asks. "Because Victoria's going to dress up as Wonder Woman for Halloween and Diana Prince doesn't deserve that."

"More like, um..." Kate falters, fiddling with her necklace. "Like...supernatural...weird?"

"Oh, I haven't!" Max says. "I believe you if you say there's something weird going on, though."

Kate smiles, one of those rare and genuine smiles that take up most of her face. "No, I was just checking in. I had a weird feeling, you know?"

Max nods. "Well, I'm out to the woods. Wanna join me?"

Kate's smile twitches at the corners, looking uncomfortably like a cornered animal. "Ah...no, thanks. Have you been...going out to the woods lately?"

"I'm starting to," Max says. "Why?"

"Just...be careful!" Kate says, eyebrows furrowed. "There's a lot of weird things in those woods."

"Don't worry, Kate," Max says. "I'll be careful, okay? I mean, I think the most dangerous animals in the forest here are deer."

Kate hesitates, and shakes her head. "I think there's some other animals out there. Plus, people can be cruel! Promise me you'll be safe?"

Max gives Kate a hug, and Kate squeezes her tightly.

"Yeah," Max says, voice slightly strained ( _when did Kate get this strong? does she lift?_ ). "I will."

\--

She comes back to the dorm soaking wet, holding a jar of rainwater and grinning from ear to ear. "Hi!" Max says to Rachel. She's never talked to Rachel before, but there's a happy hum in her chest from what she just did. If she has doubts, she doesn't anymore. She feels like she could take on the world and win. No, she feels like the world's on her side.

"Hey, Max," Rachel says, tilting her head.

"Oh, I didn't think you knew my name," Max says, then puts her hand over her mouth. Her face heats up. "Uh. I'm sorry, that was rude."

Rachel smiles. "No worries, Max. I know how it is."

"You do?" Max asks. God, she has pretty eyes. Max can't look away.

Rachel winks and walks away.

Max doesn't know what to think about that. She heads to her room, ignoring Victoria, leaning against her door with a smug comment clearly on the tip of her tongue. Instead, she heads to her room.

Her bed drops about a foot. It's still hovering a little, though.

Max, to her credit, does not scream. She avoids dropping the jar of rainwater. She does, however, lock her door and lean against it, slowly sliding down towards the floor.

"Okay," she says. "Uh. Spirit. Is that...rude? I don't--"

She stops talking, eyes locked onto her bed. After a minute, the bed starts lowering down slowly. Max gets the sense that whatever's in her room is sorry.

"Are you...do you...need...something?" Max asks. "I don't...do I get a Ouija board? I?"

Max has no clue what to do. She wants to ask Kate, but Kate will think she's crazy. When it came to supernatural stuff, she probably meant...birds. Or ants. Or a storm or something. Not  _this_.

"I'm going to get a whiteboard," Max says. "This week. And...I am going to put that whiteboard in this room. When I leave, you can write something on that whiteboard, and I can help you get what...you want...to move on?"

The bed lifts up again, quickly.

"Or...not," Max says weakly. "Whatever you prefer."

Whatever ghost has decided to haunt her puts the bed down gently.

\--

When Max leaves her room to go buy the whiteboard, since she promised she would and she forgot about the one right outside her door, Kate is right there.

"Oh, sorry, Kate! Did you need something?" Max asks.

"Are you alright?" Kate says. "You seem...stressed."

Max fidgets, not closing the door yet. Her room, or the spirit in it, she guesses, seems tense--she can feel it like a wave rolling over her. Randomly, her thoughts turn to her childhood here, with Chloe.

_Sand between our toes, too cold but we don't notice, the waves leave us clean for a moment before we keep going, can you hear me, Max--_

"Max?" Kate asks again.

"Yeah," Max says. She's not sure who she's talking to. "I'm fine."

Kate narrows her eyes. "If you're sure."

"What's up?" Max asks.

"Just wanted to check in," Kate says. "Since you were going to the woods, and all. Was there anything weird?"

Max nods. "I promise I'll tell you all about it soon, okay? I'm..." She laughs breathlessly. "I half don't believe it myself, you know?"

Kate's eyes soften. "Yeah, I understand. I'm here for you, you know?"

"I do," Max says. If she weren't still holding the door open, she'd give Kate a hug. She's not sure why she is, actually. "I have to run right now, but let's get tea later, okay?"

Kate nods, grinning. Max finds herself staring--obviously just because her teeth are really white. That's the only reason. Max runs off, trusting Kate not to run into her room. Kate doesn't, obviously, but Max could swear she hears her...sniff?

_Huh. Weird._

\--

The next week starts, and Max finds it weird she has to go to class. She loves Ms. Grant, but why would she want to pay attention in  _science_ right now? Her dorm room is haunted! The spirit hasn't written anything yet, but it also hasn't lifted her bed up again, so she's counting it a victory.

Part of her wants to run back and see if anything's different, but she wants to go for a quick walk first. She's been thinking about what Kate said, about the woods, and she's curious.

It's the middle of the day, so she should be safe, plus she's still running on the energy from everything that's happening.

The woods are right by Blackwell. It was something she thought a lot about when she wasn't sure if Blackwell was the right decision. Being able to look out her window and have trees  _right there_ was incredibly tempting.

She's lucky that scholarship went through! It was really weird. Things hadn't been looking good, then all of a sudden...full ride approved. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, though.

Her first step into the woods feels like taking a breath after a long time underwater. The tension lifts off her shoulders as if it's a physical weight. With a spring in her step, she keeps walking.

Max isn't going any particular way--her phone has GPS, so she's not taking  _zero_ precautions--because she trusts the forest. Maybe not the forest itself but...there's  _something_ about this place. She feels it in her bones, in her blood.

At least, she feels that way until she comes across the stag.

It's not especially gorey, but Max can't even handle blood too well. Clearly, a bear or something had lunch a couple weeks ago. The smell is overpowering.

She rushes back to Blackwell.

\--

Blackwell still feels a little too close, after everything that happened, and she wants something familiar. Her childhood home would be ideal, obviously, but someone else lives there now and she can't just barge in. _Gotta work on invisibility first,_ she thinks, and it'd be funnier if she wasn't so panicked.

The Two Whales Diner is the natural choice.

It won't be the same, since Chloe isn't there. She hasn't been for...oh, three months now? Every time she starts thinking about it, or her in general, her head gets kind of fuzzy.

She's still not sure why she wasn't invited to the funeral. Her thoughts are all jumbled. Maybe she went and forgot? No, she wouldn't do that.

Joyce doesn't seem particularly upset, which seems normal until Max tries to think about it, and her thoughts run away from her again.

Usually back to that day on the beach.

She eats bacon and eggs, hardly her favorite but another reminder of the friend she never got to reunite with. She thinks she should feel more sad than she does. Oh, well.

\--

Kate seems tense at their next tea date, wincing and rubbing the back of her neck.

"You okay, Kate?" Max asks.

"Yeah!" Kate says. "Just some back stuff. Been a busy month so far, you know?"

Max nods.

"It should be better soon."

"Oh, are you going to a masseuse or something?" Max asks.

Kate shrugs with one shoulder. "Yeah."

\--

Max doesn't see Kate the next day. She spends most of the day in her room, though, so that's not too weird. There's a  _ghost_ in her room. She's trying to figure out what it--they want.

Unfortunately, it keeps knocking over her stuff.

"Are you trying to do this?" she asks, annoyed, as it knocks over her glass for the third time in half an hour. She doesn't expect an answer, since it hasn't written anything on the whiteboard.

Apparently, though, today is a day for miracles. The marker shakily lifts off the table, the cap rocketed against the wall, and writes

N  O

in what is possibly the worst handwriting Max has ever seen.

"Was your handwriting that bad when you were...you know?" Max asks. The marker underlines the word again. "That's a no, right?"

 ~~N  O~~   YE S

"Okay! So we can communicate! Though you might have to work on your words," Max says.

It throws the marker at her.

\--

When Max sees Kate the day after the ghost incident, she looks exhausted.

"Hey! Do you feel better?" Max asks, jogging to catch up with her on the way to class.

"I do, Max," Kate says, clearly fighting back a yawn.

"Was massage really that draining?" Max asks.

"I just went running after," Kate says, looking down.

"I didn't know you ran!" Max says.

"It's a new thing."

"Do you know what you get when you run behind a car?" Max asks.

"...no?" Kate says, narrowing her eyes.

"Exhausted!"

Kate blinks, then absolutely  _howls_ with laughter. Literally howls, mind you. It sounds like the husky her parents used to have when Max was really little.

"I haven't heard you really laugh before," Max says.

Kate puts a hand over her mouth. "Oh. Sorry."

"No!" Max says. "It's...kinda cute, actually."

Kate's face turns red.

\--

Another week passes. Her classmates seem less and less excited about school, though Max doubts that's for the same reasons as Max.

She's on a walk with Kate when it starts raining. Ever since this month started, the rain has felt like a new burst of energy. She almost wants to start skipping.

"I love the rain," Max says conversationally.

"Why?" Kate asks. "For me, rain has always felt...sad? Or at least dull."

"No, it's like!" Max spins so she's facing Kate, walking backwards. "Warn me if I'm about to fall. It's like...a new start, you know?"

"I rarely see you this energetic," Kate says, a small smile on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Rain's like...a new start. Like a shower that cleans off dirt, but it's nature washing away your stress and problems and...sins, if that makes you feel better? I don't want to presume," Max says. She may be a witch with energy and euphoria but she's still an awkward girl at heart.

Kate stops, looking up at the sky. "A new start," she says quietly.

Max slows, sensing something's off. "Everything alright, Kate?"

Kate looks at Max, and Max could swear her eyes are amber, like a fire. "Yeah. I'm okay."

Her smile is as kind as ever. Max can't stop staring.

\--

She's had good dreams this month. A lot of them are about Chloe, which she supposes is grief or something, but she never feels sad. It just feels like she's spending time with her best friend.

Her dreams usually don't have continuity, too, but this month is full of new things.

"Hey, Max!" Chloe says, a grin on her face.

It's an older Chloe, how Max imagines Chloe might be--tattoos, blue hair, punk clothes--but it's still the same Chloe she grew up and made pancakes and played pirates with. It just...is.

"Hi, Chloe," Max says.

They don't say anything for awhile, just sit in a comfortable silence at the bench by the lighthouse.

"Do you miss me?" Chloe says suddenly.

Max's instinctive reaction is to say  _yes_ , but if she's being honest with herself...

"I feel like I should," Max says slowly. Chloe's jaw clenches. "But...I feel like we're closer than ever. Maybe it's because of these dreams?"

Chloe looks down. "How close?"

"What do you m--"

Before she can finish her sentence, Chloe moves so fast Max can't even see. She's been doing that a lot lately--of course she has, this is a dream. Chloe's kneeling in front of her, eyes wide. Their foreheads are almost touching.

Max moves first, pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss that feels like the start of something new. By all rights, this should be a goodbye--finally putting to rest the crush she's had for years, but.

When she wakes up, her mouth is still tingling.

"Don't judge me," she says to the ghost in her room.

not judging

good dream ?

"Yeah," Max says.

any id ea?

Max's brow furrows. "On who you are? Um, I just woke up..."

you re silly max

"You're silly too, Casper," Max mutters.

hey i m way cooler than casper

casper doesn t mess up queen bee s photos

"That was you?" Max asks. "Oh my God, she was so  _mad_."

but it was pretty fun ny right

"Yeah," Max says, unable to keep herself from giggling.

<3

\--

Kate's been hanging out in her room more and more. At first, she seemed tense, unwilling to talk, and Max thought she was working herself up to tell Max that she hated her or something.

Over time, though, she's relaxed, laughing and joking. Max is a little worried about who she's been calling Casper, because usually when people try to come in Max's (their?) room, things start ominously shaking, but they haven't been.

It's nice, to hang out with her two closest friends here. Even if one of them doesn't know the other one exists.

"Hey, Max?" Kate says one day.

"Yeah?" Max says, distracted.

_Stick against stick, more of a fight than a game but more of a dance than a fight, feet twirling in the grass in our backyard--_

The ghost is more insistent on her attention recently. Not in a rude way--if she's trying to study, it'll generally leave her alone or even help if it's chemistry. But when she's alone, or when it's the three of them like this, her mind keeps drifting to her past. Usually to Chloe.

Could--? No. That...that just doesn't make sense.

"Max?"

"Sorry!" Max says. "Sorry for spacing out, I--"

"No big deal," Kate says with a smile. "I know how it is. I was just wondering if I could take a, um, picture with you?"

"Like a selfie?" Max asks.

"Yeah!" Kate says. "I want a picture with everyone there."

"There's just the two of us, though," Max says, heart beating so hard she can feel it in her throat.

"Yeah!" Kate says, scratching her nose. "Sorry for the weird phrasing. Also...could I maybe use your camera?"

"Oh!" Max says. "Uh, yeah, that's fine."

Kate treats her camera with the utmost respect and caution, though her angle of the camera is a bit weird but whatever. Max smiles for the camera, and Kate grins. There's a flash.

For a second, Max swears she can see--no, she's gotta be imagining things.

Kate takes the Polaroid, shaking it.

"You're actually not supposed to--" Max says quietly.

Kate takes the Polaroid and examines it closely. Her eyes widen for a second before she looks up and stares at nothing.

"Can I see the picture?" Max asks, reaching for the Polaroid.

She looks at the developing picture for only a second before Kate snatches it away. Her friend's grin looks sharper than usual.

"Um, I have a book report due, I'll talk to you tomorrow," Kate says, words rushed. "Okay? Sorry." She hurries out.

"That was weird, right, Casper?" she asks, turning to the whiteboard.

Nothings happens.

"Casper?" Max asks. The marker doesn't lift at all.

Her room feels emptier than it normally does.

Flopping back on her bed, she stares up at the ceiling.

She could've sworn she saw blue hair.

\--

Max knocks on Kate's door. She can hear Kate arguing with someone, and she's worried for her friend, but also wants to see the picture, and also wants to know what is going on. It's been over a week now since Casper wrote to her, or since she had a dream with Chloe in it. The month is over! It's Halloween! And she actually got invited to do something with her friends, but she has to deal with all this.

"Kate--" the other person says, and it's so familiar Max aches with the nostalgia of it.

Kate opens the door, eyes like molten gold, and says, "Hi, Max."

Max is about to ask a question when she sees Chloe, exactly as she is in her dreams, sitting on Kate's desk. Well, not exactly. Her eyes are silver.

"Are--" Max says, then stops. She tries again with a "what" but doesn't get far then either.

They both say, "Max?," right before she passes out.

\--

"So, you're a werewolf," Max says.

"Yes," Kate asks.

"And Casper actually is Chloe," Max says.

"We've already discussed the Casper thing," Chloe says.

"What...what the fuck?" Max asks. "Chloe? You're dead!"

"I mean...technically," Chloe says.

"What do you mean,  _technically_?" Max asks, voice higher than usual. "You were haunting my room."

"I don't remember how I died," Chloe says. "I...think it just had to be this way? For this to make sense."

"For what to make sense?"

Chloe shrugs. "Some offshoot timeline or something. Maybe the rulers of the original universe were assholes and this one's nicer. Like, we're some sort of fan project of the original thing."

Max and Kate both stare at her blankly.

"Ghost knowledge," Chloe says sagely.

"Okay," Max says, understanding nothing. "Kate?"

"I got turned a couple months back," Kate says. "I was really stressed at first, because I didn't know how to control what I was going through! I'm doing a lot better now. Chloe's helped me a lot."

"So...are you two...friends?"

Chloe and Kate both blush at the same time, stammering something about shared experiences and time to think, and Max realizes.

"Oh. You two are--oh. But..." Max hesitates. "In my dream, you kissed me?"

Chloe's face is now beet-red, but also transparent. "Yeah, that was...um, before. But we were actually talking about that."

"About?" Max says. She still has no goddamn clue what is happening, but Kate's fiddling with her necklace and looking anywhere but Max, and Chloe's leaning forward to look her directly in the eyes.

"How about we make this supernatural duo a trio?" Chloe asks.

"You couldn't ask in a different way," Kate asks, face now in her hands.

"Yes," Max says. "Yes, absolutely yes--"

Chloe floats right through her in an attempt to hug her, which is a weird sensation. Kate... _pounces_ over from where she was to tacklecuddle the both of them, and Max laughs, because the whole situation is so ridiculous.

"On Halloween," she says. "This is so stupid."

"Hey, you're the one who decided to start dabbling in witchcraft at the beginning of October," Chloe says.

"And who walked in the middle of the woods despite warnings to the contrary," Kate reminds them both.

"She what?"

"Shut up," Max says fondly.


End file.
